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'Master' and 'slave' computer labels unacceptable, officials say

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.

The request -- which has some suppliers furious and others busy re-labeling components -- came after an unidentified worker spotted a videotape machine carrying devices labeled "master" and "slave" and filed a discrimination complaint with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance.

In the computer industry, "master" and "slave" are used to refer to primary and secondary hard disk drives. The terms are also used in other industries.

This is utterly beyond belief. Have people really gone this far with being politically correct? Had AD not replaced the old domain system of NT they would have complained that PDC and BDC were offensive and segregated computers. I have a novel thought for these people..."ALL COMPUTERS WERE NOT CREATED EQUAL" There is no bill of rights for computers, and anyone who takes persnoal offense to a term that refers to computer hardware has some serious issues and needs to see a head doctor promptly!

What is truly unfortunate is that those 2 words used in conjuction will always be linked with dark times in world history....

I agree that it the people involved are being over sensitive, but I am also sympathetic. That said, at some point society as a whole has to say "get over it"

In my state, every river, hill, stream, etc. that had a name derived from the native american language, or referred to natice americans in a derogatory fashion, had to be renamed. We have seen the same happen in professional sports also..

What is the alternative, obliterate those words from the dictionary, and never use them again? sigh...if these people would turn their energies instead to problems of homelessness, child abuse, etc., we may actually be able to accomplish something. Instead we are mired in little nitpicky crap.

whoops i posted the same thing in general chat 0_o
anyways, funny how the master device (HD ) does all the work and the slave devices (CD, floppy, Zip, etc.) work about one third of the time. this Joe Sandoval guy should be drgged out into the streets and shot to death

In the computer industry, "master" and "slave" are used to refer to primary and secondary hard disk drives.

Ummmm... actually..... "primary" and "secondary" refer to seperate IDE channells. Each is then split to Master and Slave. People shoud know what they're talking about before they publish work like this. What should we call them now, "primary primary" and "primary secondary" instead of "primary master" and "primary slave"?

Sheesh

Government is like fire - a handy servant, but a dangerous master - George Washington
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force. - George Washington.

Of course the whole issue is ridiculous, but nothing coming out of LA suprises me anymore. It's people spewing this sort of crap out of their oral orifices that makes LA the anus of the country. People are so worked up over being politically correct these days that it's amazing that anything ever gets done over here. The world would be a better place without jackasses like Sandoval.

Wow, from stupid to farking braindead in only a short while. Seems now there is an actual ban on hardware labeled master/slave. For anyone who wants to read the actual article click [ here ] But I would advise you to wait a day if youve already hit your quota of stupid articles read in one day today.